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20090928

‘I told them countless times these are the wrong suspects -- but the police just won’t listen…’

Murdered: dr. Paul Meyer (38)

Sept 27 2009 -- Marietie Louw-Carstens reports in Beeld that Marilise, left, the 32-year-old widow of the murdered wildlife veterinarian Dr Paul Meyer, said the Mozambiquan suspects which police claim were her husband’s murderers, ‘are the wrong people’. But they refuse to listen to her, she told the newspaper.

The widow, left with orphaned baby son Paul-Wouter, who at the age of six weeks was kidnapped with his mom and his father murdered -- told Marietie Louw-Carstens that “she’d told the police countless times that those are not the men who attacked us, but they simply won’t listen to me…’

She was asked to identify four arrested suspects – three of whom have since somehow managed to ‘escape ‘ from the Gravelotte police-station cells in Limpopo by sawing through the cell-bars.

Pathetic Police Investigation:

The widow slammed the police investigation into her husband’s murder as ‘pathetic’. “And then the police didn’t even let me know of the escape of these suspects. I had to hear it via friends and through the news media.’

Three of the arrested men, Eddie Chauke (31), Marcy Nasser (30) and Rogero Thambale (29), all three from Mozambique, allegedly managed to get hold of a hacksaw which which they allegedly had sawn through the bars of their police-cell. The fourth suspect Alex Babunda, 31, is still in custody. They were arrested shortly after Dr Meyer’s gruesome murder and have been refused bail by the Phalaborwa magistrate’s court because all three men are from Mozambique.

Yet while one witness who saw these men from very close-by, namely Mrs Marilise Meyer, insists that these arrested men were not the ones who had attacked and kidnapped her and her husband; and that these were not the men who had shot had husband while they were kidnapped -- the police insist that they had the right suspects in custody.

Dr Meyer was shot dead in the Selati nature reserve when he, his wife, their babyson Paul Wouter (six weeks at the time) and friends were attacked by a group of armed black men. The Meyer couple and their baby were kidnapped in one of Dr Meyer’s 4x4 bakkie, their friends were taken away by the kidnappers in another 4x4 bakkie belonging to the vet. Shortly before they were leaving the nature reserve’s gates, Dr Meyer was shot and his body was thrown from the bakkie in front of his wife and baby-son.

Murders rose by 7,9% in Limpopo:

Beeld enquired about the odd investigation with superintendent Mohale Ramatseba – who told them that they didn’t know whether the three escapees had been caught as yet. According to the latest available (18-month-old) SAPS crime statistics, the number of murders in Limpopo province has risen by 7,9% percent.

Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, who last year co-authored a report on crime and public security in South Africa, said these murders highlight “ how political promises had not been kept as far as the eradication of farm attacks was concerned: the conclusion we came to in our report was that there was a vacuum [in crime-fighting regarding] rural safety.” Burger said this “was a result of the phasing out of South African National Defence Force units, or commandos, deployed specifically to patrol rural areas in South Africa since 2003. “[The phasing out] was not supposed to happen until sector policing, police reservists and crime-combating units were in place. In almost all [rural areas] we visited in our research, none of this had been done,” Burger added.

20090926 Isabel Schonken, 55, killed at Klipkop AH, Pretoria

Virginia Keppler of Beeld newspaper reports Pretoria – Sept 28 2009 - 55-year-old Isabel Schonken was shot dead from behind over the weekend, as she was apparently trying to escape to a guest bathroom to hide from a group of armed attackers at the Klipkop smallholdings east of Pretoria. On Saturday, Mrs Schonken's businessman-husband Lars, 56, was shot in the torso during the attack near Klipkop at 02:00. He returned fire, injuring one attacker who got away Lars's skull and wrist were fractured when the robbers assaulted him and hit him with a pistol. He is currently recovering in the Little Company of Mary hospital in Groenkloof, Pretoria, writes Keppler.

Pictures by LEON BOTHA, BEELD: right Mrs Isabel Schonken’s body taken away by the SAPS forensic services’ department after she was shot in the back by a group of armed farm attackers. Left is Mrs Schonken’s heartbroken brother Leon Rumsey, 54, at the electrified fence and the scene where his sister killed while trying to flee.

Cut through electric fenceIsabel's sister Héléne Rumsey, 52, who lives a stone's throw from the Schonkens, said the robbers had cut through an electric fence which stretches all around the smallholding. They were able to get into the house through an open sliding door. "They attacked Lars in the bedroom," Rumsey related. "It seems as if my sister had fallen asleep in front of the television in the living room and woke up when they shot Lars. Shortly thereafter she was shot through the heart. The robbers tried to shoot Lars in the heart as well, but luckily it was only a flesh wound," she added.Lars lost consciousness after being shot. When he came to, shortly thereafter, he fetched his pistol from the safe and shot one of the robbers. According to Rumsey,the only things which were ‘robbed’ were her sister's handbag and cellphone and her brother-in-law's laptop. Lars phoned his daughter, Sonja Smit, and her husband, who also live on the smallholding. Police spokeswoman Monique Vermeulen, said police followed a trail of blood – left by the shot attacker -- to a gravel road near the smallholding, where the suspects possibly climbed into a vehicle and fled.

Be on the lookout for a man with a bullet-wound…

The police have asked doctors and medical personnel to be on the look-out for a man with a bullet wound. Since the South African trauma units treat about 127,000 bullet wounds a year, this might be a large undertaking… Rumsey said her smallholding had also had an attempted break-in two weeks ago, but the attackers fled when they trigged the alarm.

2009-09-28 11:33 Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu – As has only become known two weeks later, three people were arrested for the murder of a farm worker in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, police said on Monday. Inspector Joey Jeevan said the men were arrested on Saturday and Sunday after intensive investigations by the Organised Crime Unit. Erasmus Mncube was shot dead on September 16 at God's Grave Farm in Nottingham Road. He sustained a gunshot wound to the head. The robbers opened the farm safe and took two firearms, cash and credit cards, as well as cellphones."During the arrests, a 9mm firearm was confiscated, which police believe may have been the murder weapon, as well as cellular phones and foreign currency that was stolen during the attack," said Jeevan. The trio aged between 27 and 30 are due to appear in the Howick Magistrate's Court shortly. http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/f9b3ed21975949bb86cc5d3dcf5e4438/28-09-2009-11-33/3_held_for_KZN_farm_murder

The widow Marlise -- left with baby son Paul-Wouter, shortly after she was kidnapped with her baby and husband Paul (right), and saw him murdered -- told Marietie Louw-Carstens that “she’d told the (Gravelotte) police countless times that those arrested people were not the men who attacked us, but they simply won’t listen to me…’

She was asked to identify four arrested suspects – three of whom have since somehow managed to ‘escape ‘ from the Gravelotte police-station cells in Limpopo.

“Pathetic” Police Investigation:

The widow today slammed the police investigation into her husband’s murder as ‘pathetic’. “And then the police didn’t even let me know of the escape of these suspects. I had to hear it via friends and through the news media.’ Three of the arrested men, Eddie Chauke (31), Marcy Nasser (30) and Rogero Thambale (29), all three from Mozambique, allegedly managed to get hold of a hacksaw which which they sawn through the bars of their police-cell. The fourth suspect Alex Babunda, 31, is still in custody. They were arrested shortly after Dr Meyer’s gruesome murder and have been refused bail by the Phalaborwa magistrate’s court because all the suspects are from Mozambique. http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2465117,00.html the police still insist that they had the right suspects in custody.

Dr Meyer was shot dead in the Selati nature reserve when he, his wife, their babyson Paul Wouter (six weeks at the time) and friends were attacked by a group of armed black men in February 2009. The Meyer couple and their baby were kidnapped in one of Dr Meyer’s 4x4 bakkies, their friends were dumped into a second bakkie. When they were driving through the reserve’s gates, Dr Meyer was shot and his body was thrown from the bakkie in front of his wife and baby-son when he tried to grab one of the attackers’ guns.

2009-09-26 00:44 - Beeld journalist Hilda Fourie reports -- Sheun, 18-year-old son of Bronkhorstspruit building contractor Robert, 47, was shot dead and his father was critically injured when two black gunmen walked into their homestead after breaking in through a kitchen-window; one assassin walked straight to the local community leader/building contractor, who was asleep in his bedroom nex to his wife, shot the Afrikaner twice (injuring him critically); and just before they left the home, the two gunmen then scuffled with their victim’s young son in the kitchen, killing the youth on the scene. Sheun Anderson had just turned 18. The police described these two black assassins as ‘burglars’- although they only took away a laptop-computer. This entire traditionally Afrikaner rural smallholdings region has been under siege for years – and the latest statistics show that this siege is intensifying: police recorded a dramatic increase in the number of rapes/homicides and armed attacks against families inside their homes in this region.

Beeld journalist Fourie, who interviewed the victims, a family friend and the police, wrote that Mrs Jeanine Anderson had to watch in helpless fear as her husband was shot twice in the stomach right next to her in bed by one of the gunmen who had surprised them in their sleep. This assassin had then walked out without saying a word, and only moments later Mrs Anderson heard another gunshot – that was her son dying. shot dead in the kitchen. The young man had rushed from his bedroom and ran straight into the two attackers, and one had shot him dead in the kitchen while there was a struggle. The bullet penetrated his upper body and he died on the scene. The 'incident' was confirmed by SAPS inspector Sanet Lourens, who described these two assassins as 'burglars'.

So is she going to report this on the official police records as a mere ‘burglary”? Often when nothing is stolen when Afrikaners are murdered like this, police also record these attacks as ‘botched burglaries…’

The police woman said the 'burglars broke in through a kitchen window' on the smallholding at Wag-'n Bietjies-kop*. A family friend, André van Staden, described to Beeld how Anderson Sr had 'become aware of the man in the bedroom,' had turned around to put on his glasses, and was shot at point-blank range, twice."The killer stood next to the bed and shot Robert Anderson twice in the stomach.' The police inspector confirmed this, adding that Mrs Anderson was next to her husband in bed when he was shot. "The man didn't say anything to Mrs Anderson at all, nor demanded anything from her,' the policewoman was quoted by the journalist as saying. Lourens also said the men had then fled through the same window they'd “broken into”. The only thing missing is a laptop-computer.The injured Robert Anderson was rushed to Bronkhorstspruit-hospital where he was picked up by a med-evac helicopter and flown to the intensive care unit of the Pretoria University Hospital. He's in critical condiiton.

“This is so evil:”

Said their family friend Van Staden: "These (criminals) feel nothing for human beings. This young man had just turned 18, he was still a child. This is so evil.'

2009-09-11 -- Hilda Fourie reports in Beeld newspaper that Mrs Anya Swart, the only child of a murdered local smallholder, Sarel Koekemoer, 69, came across his grossly-mutilated body in his Bultfontein smallholding in Pretoria North on Tuesday-night. “They have really destroyed him,’ the devastated daughter said. Her dad had been bludgeoned repeatedly with a shovel and also had numerous knife-wounds, she said. Three black men were arrested within 24 hours of the gruesome murder with his cellphone, firearm and some cash they had stolen from him still in their possession. One of the men was a casual worker on the smallholding, doing occasional odd-jobs there, said Mrs Swart.

She became worried about her dad after he hadn’t shown up for his usual meal with her family at her home, and also failed to respond to his cellphone. She drove there and discovered that while the security gates were closed, they hadn’t been locked, and neither was the kitchen door. She then found him dead in the bathroom, ‘icecold … and lying in a big pool of blood,’she said. She phoned her husband – who was at a community-policing forum at the time. Mr Swart asked police members at the meeting to contact the Hammanskraal police – and they arrived at the smallholding very shortly thereafter, she said.

Heartless, cruel:

“The cruelty of people is incredible, these are very heartless people who did this to this old man,’ she said. “I keep thinking what kind of suffering he must have gone through until he ended up dead in a pool of blood.’

August 27 2009 – BRITS. Linda de Beer reports in Beeld newspaper that police are puzzled about the circumstances surrounding the death of Gerhardus Hermie Cloete, 47, whose half-naked, torched body was found in the veldt between Jericho and the Dikhololo wildlife reserve near Brits. Police inspector Wilmarie van der Merwe said Cloete’s hands and feet were tied with shoelaces. He was reported missing last Thursday after police found his abandoned Nissan Almera about 10km outside Jericho. The rear window was broken, blood was found on the rear seat, and the car’s front and rear buffers were found near the body – about 4km from the car, said Van der Merwe. Cloete’s trousers were torched and his upperbody was unclothed. No further details were published about Mr Cloete’s background. http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/529ec966613542f3981e81dd2715b1aa/27-08-2009%2010-08/Polisie_wonder_oor_lyk_in_veld

PRETORIA NORTH – An 65-year-old granddad who was a long-time sufferer of a heart condition, Wilhelm Lotterie, was humiliated, beaten and bludgeoned to death in front of daughter-in-law Jessica, 23, and her infant son, Wilhelm’s newborn grandson Danté -- after his two adult sons were lured from their homestead when a large armed gang of blacks had torched the veldt.

Pictured left by Beeld journalist Theana Calitz are a deeply traumatised Piet and Jessica, speaking about their ordeal.

Police captain Jan Sepato said the two Lotterie sons were dousing the fire when the old man, who was sitting on the porch, was forced at gunpoint to lie down on the living room floor, where he was hogtied – and his pants were also pulled down to below his knees to humiliate him even further in front of his daughter-in-law. Mrs Lotterie had to watch helplessly as they bludgeoned the old man with a pistol and kicked him while he was lying defencelessly on the floor. When the brothers returned from dousing the fire, they were ambushed by the killers, and tied up in the toilet and bathroom. The armed gang took meat from the freezer, as well as cash, electronics, cellphones and the family’s old Ford Fiesta, reg. WHF052GP. Neighbour Jan Vermaak, who lives about a kilometer from the Lotterie homestead, said he’d helped them douse the veldt fire and was just washing himself when he heard the screaming. He sent his sons with flashlights to go and take a look – and the boys returned to report that a woman was screaming loudly. He found the distraught Jessica holding her newborn standing in the dirt road with husband Piet. They were all in shock and Vermaak said he took them back to his own home. He then helped organised a search party with the homesteaders in the area to try and find the robber gang – but they were long-gone by then. Of course the police have arrested no-one. http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/8688f56172b5425aab53220ea92701af/26-08-2009%2012-08/Rowers_skop,_slaan_man_dood

Lauren Cohen reports on August 18 2009 that five days after “flower child” mom Tracey-Leigh Frankish’s screams scared off would-be burglars, house robbers struck again, this time taking her life. A cheap TV set, hi-fi and a small amount of money were the only things stolen from the murdered 33-year-old Gauteng sales representative’s cottage in Farmall, an agricultural holding north of Fourways. She worked at the food manufacturing company Ma Baker. Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, who last year co-authored a report on crime and public security in South Africa, said the murder highlighted how political promises had not been kept as far as the eradication of farm attacks was concerned. “The conclusion we came to in our report was that there was a vacuum [in crime-fighting regarding] rural safety.” Burger said this was a result of the phasing out of South African National Defence Force units, or commandos, deployed specifically to patrol rural areas in South Africa since 2003. “[The phasing out] was not supposed to happen until sector policing, police reservists and crime-combating units were in place. In almost all [rural areas] we visited in our research, none of this had been done,” Burger added.http://www.newsvibe.co.za/external.php?node=135471

Lauren Cohen also reported on August 20 2009 in The Times of Johannesburg that in the wake of Farmall resident Tracey-Leigh Frankish’s murder, the northern Johannesburg community had been living in fear of “marauding gangs”. Jerry de Beer, who lives on a plot not far from where burglars shot and killed Frankish, 33, last weekend, told The Times that the single mother’s murder was the second in the area in just two weeks. “Marius Labuschagne, living on a plot in a caravan, was murdered on August 1. Only his cellphone was taken,” De Beer said. “Residents are living in absolute fear every night as the marauding gangs go about their deeds unhindered,” he said. De Beer has been keeping track of crime in his area and his records show that there have been nine armed robberies and 27 burglaries in the area this year alone. “Barely half of the 114 plots in Farmall are occupied; residents are starting to abandon their properties out of fear and desperation. “We have no means to protect ourselves — normal electric fences, beams and alarms are not a deterrent anymore. “Even armed response when activated cannot guarantee that you will survive an attack from these ruthless, murdering thieves,” De Beer said. And the police, he claims, are not pulling their weight because they have failed to investigate three armed robberies committed on his property alone. Balan Muthan, spokesman for the Douglasdale police, who are responsible for the area, said extra police officers and vehicles have now been brought in. “We have also stepped up the number of patrols and the mounted unit is coming in,” Muthan said. “The problem is that the plots are so big and there are many trees. If there are people hiding on the properties, you can’t see them.” http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1052518

2009-08-19 Bloemfontein - Three of five armed men were arrested after a gang of five attacked 85-year-old Afrikaner farm woman Kathrina Fourie near Soutpan, Free State police said on Wednesday. Sergeant Thandi Mbambo said five men attacked the woman on the farm Goedverblijf near Soutpan while her partner was fetching farmworkers on Tuesday morning. Police said the farmer returned around at 07:00 on Tuesday to find footprints leading to the garage door, which connected with the house. When he went to the front door of the house he heard screams. "He found Kathrina Fourie in the passage bleeding heavily. She had several stab wounds." Mbambo said Mrs Fourie was taken to the Pelonomi regional hospital in Bloemfontein and was in a critical condition. Neighbouring farmers were alerted about the incident and “suspicious-looking men” were seen running through the fields in the direction of the adjacent squatter camp. Three men were arrested with the help of farmworkers on their way to work. A laptop computer, two cellphones and batteries allegedly stolen from the farm were found in their possession. It’s not known when the other two men are expected to be arrested.Mbambo said a case of attempted murder was opened and the three men, aged 18 and 19, from Bultfontein and Soutpan, would appear at the Brandfort Magistrate's Court on Friday. SAPA http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/0a60ae7b74314c66a6402cf928394879/19-08-2009-10-10/5_men_attack_woman,_85

"I was not going to let that man kill my husband. I got angry and I fought back."

These were the defiant words of Pretoria pensioner Anna-Marie Saaiman, 78, who although bleeding heavily after her attacker bit off the tip of her ring finger to try and get to her wedding ring, beat off the man trying "to kill" her husband, Koert, 80, at their smallholding in Kromdraai, north of Pretoria on Thursday. The Saaimans had just returned from Pretoria where they had done their weekly shopping, when they were attacked at their modest home. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090821034626466C968765

http://jv.news24.com/Die_Volksblad/Nuus/0,,5-83_2546642,00.html Aug 09 2009 Loraine Kalp of Volksblad newspaper, Villiers, Free State, reports VILLIERS. Free State – Mrs Marita Stolz, 50 -- widow of the kidnapped and murdered security guard at an abbattoir farm -- Coen Stoltz, 53, said it was a huge shock to the family to see his tied-up, tortured body after it was found dumped in the Vaal River yesterday. “However at least our worries about what happened to him, are over, We now know he was murdered in a very cruel way. He was tied up and looks horrible.’ (PLEASE – if anybody has a sharper picture of Mr Stoltz, please email it to a.j.stuijt@knid.nl ) Police Insp. Neels du Randt had been searching for Mr Stoltz ever since he was kidnapped from his job on Thursday-night at an abbattoir farm located at Vaal river next to the N3 highway. The office was in great disarray and there were signs of a fight, with blood traces. Two computers were looted and Stoltz’ shoes and a sock were lying next to the office. One of the shoes’ laces had been removed – and the inspector said Stoltz hands were tied up with it when he was found. The family and police had been searching for him ever since – besides themselves with fear. “We kept hoping that he was just left lying somewhere, tied up, and that we’d find him alive, said Mrs Stoltz. “I have no tears left, I feel all empty,’ she said. “My sons Coenraad 20 of Kempton Park and Lourens, 19, of Middelburg, are in terrible shape after seeing his body. One of his eyes were smashed in and he has terrible wounds. It would have been easier to lose him to some kind of illness, but knowing that he was murdered in such a cruel way, is horrid,’ she added. They still don’t know whether he was just dumped in the water while he was tied up and still alive, or whether he was murdered before he was dumped. The investigating officer, Viljoen, said no-one has been arrested as yet. Anyone with information can phone him at telephone 083-381-1976. Kidnapped body of guard found in river.

Jul 30 2009 Hilda Fourie reports in Beeld newspaper that two businessmen, Flip Nel, 46 and Christo Smit, 42, were gunned down by four armed black men as they left their Elandsfontein smallholding’s homestead to go to work. An employer of the two men found them badly injured after hearing the gunshots. She reports on August 1 that Smit succumbed to his wounds in hospital. Read Beeld Afrikaans news story The late Mr Nel, family album photograph left, owned the Floral Art shop at Ifafi, one of three holiday resorts bordering the popular Hartbeespoort Dam. He was shot in the chest. His housemate Smit works as supervisor for one of the production lines at the cosmetics company Prime Products, which is located on the premises of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation at Pelindaba. He was shot in the stomach. “They were gunned down blindly, just as they left their house,’ said John Foulds, 52, a neighbour who rushed to the scene and helped make the injured Afrikaners comfortable until the air-ambulance and police showed up – TWO HOURS LATER…

Jul 24 2009 Hilda Fourie of Beeld newspaper reports that 54-year-old Johann Blignaut, a business advisor who works in the pharmaceutical industry, was working on his laptop-computer in his lapa (a fenced off picnic area inside a garden) at 5am on Friday-morning, July 23 2009 – something he did every morning. He was shot dead when an unknown armed men tore down portions of a prefabricated concrete wall, walked up to Blignaut, fired several bullets through his head and neck – and left again without stealing anything. Police inspector Duane Lightfoot said their investigations found that the gunmen had torn out entire panels of a prefabricated concrete wall surrounding the smallholding property, had entered the lapa and killed Blignaut. Blignaut ‘s head also hit a sharp object as he fell down dead, Lightfoot said. Nothing was robbed at all.Ionn, Blignaut's 22-year-old son, was woken up while sleeping in his bedroom, which is situated right next to the lapa. "My dad usually woke up around the 5am to work in the lapa, but on Saturday morning things did not happen as usual." The laptop computer, usually a much sought-after article for armed robbers, was left untouched, said LIghtfoot.

Police: 'We have noticed that people are being senselessly killed in their homes'

"Because I usually go to bed late, I'm in deep sleep at that time. But on Saturday morning I was woken up by his screams and about four gunshots in the backyard. When I got out I found him lying on the ground bleeding," said Ionn. According to Ionn, his father had been shot in the head and neck, and the neck was bleeding profusely. Now the family do not feel safe in their home despite assurances by police that they would bring those responsible to book. "We bought this house here specifically because we wanted to be close to nature as that is the kind of person my father was. He loved the outdoors and this place was just ideal," said Ionn. Blignaut, who worked in the pharmaceutical industry and was also a business adviser, is the latest victim in the string of murders that have occurred in the rural areas of Pretoria East over the last two weeks. These murders are often accompanied by extremely cruel acts of torture. And now the deputy national police commissioner has pledged that special measures will be taken to stop the killings, reports Pretoria News. Friday, Deputy National Commissioner Andre Pruis said they had noticed the recent murders in Pretoria East and were paying special attention to them."We have noticed that people are being senselessly killed in their homes and the murderers do not even take any of their possessions. We are employing crime intelligence and doing pattern analysis to determine what exactly is motivating these murders," said Pruis.Ionn told police that he had heard ‘strangers’ voices speaking’ just before hearing the shots – but didn’t interpret this as having been any kind of argument. No-one was arrested. Police are still at a loss about any motive. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2541863,00.html

Jul 18 2009 Beeld court journalist Susan Cilliers reports that two murderers of Dutch-born physician/philanthropist Dr Pieter Ernst at his Hekpoort farm near Magaliesburg four years ago, were yesterday sentenced to 22 years prison each. Chabuse Steve Lebakeng and Khaladi Thabang, jr, both in their thirties, were earlier found guilty of murder, armed robbery and illegal firearms possession. Picture: the murdered Dr. Pieter Ernst and his youngest son, Maxwell ( now 11), who lives in The Netherlands with mom Rene and brother Hugo. Son Pieter junior, 23, said after the sentencing at the Pretoria High court that ‘this wouldn’t bring back my dad, but it helps to know that two people were captured and put in prison’. His father was murdered on 29 July 2005 on the family farm near Hekpoort, Magaliesburg when he travelled there to pay workers. He was ambushed at the farm entrance and shot at point-blank range in the head. His lifeless body was found by neighbour, police insp. Dawid van der Merwe, detective of Magaliesburg , and who had stopped when he saw Dr Ernst’s Mercedes Benz ML430, still idling at the farm entrance. It’s not known why the Mercedes wasn’t stolen – the murderers had targetted the payroll instead. Dr Ernst emigrated to South Africa from the Netherlands in the 1990s. "His murder is so senseless and cruel. He was a warm-hearted, kind person and generous. We always felt that he was bigger than life, he was like a dad for us all. We are devastated,’’ said a friend, Ms Clorinda Scalco, shorly after the murder. One of the murderers/robbers was a former worker who had been fired legally for thievery. Ernst Jr. said the murderers were caught because “they had bragged about what they did. Stories started emerging at our farm amongst the workers, and we were told that one person with the nickname Chilli Boy had been involved. The police was notified and they were caught.’ Dr Ernst started the NGO-charity Marang House in 1998 at Northcliff Johannesburg for chronically-ill children suffering from diabetes and kidney-ailments, several years after his emigration from the Netherlands. He first worked at state hospitals and started the rescue house with inherited money when he started his own private practice. “He saw how children with serious chronic illnesses often literally lived all their lives in hospitals. He bought a house behind his consulting rooms to offer these children a home while they were being treated at the hospital,’ said his son. “We have since that time cared for more than seventy children,’ the son added. He’s now taken over as the managing director of Marang House. His two brothers are in The Netherlands, Hugo, 20, and Maxwell, 11 with their mother Rene. Marang House could use some extra funding in these economically-hard times, Mr Ernst added. Our readers are asked to please donate to Marang House in honour of Dr Ernst’s memory.http://www.maranghouse.orghttp://www.ad.nl/buitenland/article301315.ece

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20090714 Roets, Nick, 56, murdered, Raslouw smallholdings, Pretoria

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090715043122202C944154Graeme Hosken reports on the front page of the Pretoria News on July 15 2009 (left) that Pretoria businessman Nick Roets was gunned down at his smallholding moments after his wife and a worker had left to make a delivery. Roets, 56, was shot dead in his Raslouw home after he was overpowered by an unknown number of assailants at lunchtime on Tuesday. The community-watch system has collapsed several months ago in the area, and ever since then, violent crime has skyrocketed, residents told Hosken. Roets, who was shot through the heart, is believed to have been killed with his own revolver, which, according to the police, was among six guns that were stolen, along with money and a laptop computer.It is believed that the gunmen took Roets's gun - which he always carried with him after the family were attacked in their home in 2001 - after overpowering him.As crying friends and relatives gathered to comfort the Roets family, shocked neighbours stood outside their homes waiting for news. "I can't believe it. I have spent most of the day outside and did not hear anything," said neighbour Peter Kgatuke. He described Roets as a friendly man who always had a smile on his face. "Whenever I saw him as I left for work he would wave and smile at me. He seemed to be a very kind person, and my heart goes out to his family," he said. Kgatuke added that since the collapse of the area's community watch system, violent crime has escalated. "Last week my neighbour's domestic worker narrowly escaped an attack when robbers broke into the house. These crimes are all because our community security system has fallen apart," he said, describing how effective the neighbourhood watch system had been. Asked why the system had collapsed, Kgatuke said: "I do not know. Everyone was in e-mail contact with each other. We were in the process of erecting security walls and gates around our community, and everything seemed to be on track until it suddenly all fell apart. "I am still trying to understand why the system collapsed," he said, adding that at the time of the collapse he had feared that someone would be seriously injured or even killed in an attack. Another neighbour, Imtiaz Patel, agreed and said the gated community system would have gone a long way towards protecting people. "Unfortunately it did not materialise and now this has happened. Our greatest fears have been realised," he said. He said it would now be a case of people waking up in the morning and wondering who had been killed during the night. "It is imperative that we revise this community watch system if our neighbourhood is to be kept safe. We cannot allow these killings to continue," he said. Another resident, who asked not to be named, said his family were terrified. "If this can happen in broad daylight, imagine what can happen at night. We do not feel safe. We already have burglar bars and alarms. What else are we now meant to do to protect ourselves?" he asked. Police captain Louise Read confirmed that the murder happened shortly after Roets's wife and a worker left on an errand. "When she returned at 2pm she found her husband dead in the study. At this stage the motive for the killing appears to be robbery, as six guns, along with a laptop computer and hi-fi system, were taken. "Roets's revolver was also stolen," she said. It was not known how the gunmen entered the house as there was no sign of forced entry. "This will form part of our investigation," Read said, adding that the police were following several leads. Anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the gunmen can contact CrimeStop at 08600-10111. This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on July 15, 2009 http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090715043122202C944154

20090712 “Say your last words,” said murderers of Piet van den Berg, Cullinan – then they shot him in the back, locked wife Madeleine in a closet and torched their homestead…

Jul 12 2009 -- An elderly, working-class Afrikaner smallholder of Cullinan was shot dead in front of his wife’s eyes on Sunday-morning– and then their homestead was torched by three armed attackers after they locked her in a closet. Madeleine van den Berg, 60, was told before she was locked up: ‘Say your last words because we are going to burn down your house.’ Picture: Beeld photographer Cornél van Heerdenhttp://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2538185,00.html Mrs Madeleine van den Berg, 60, of the Cullinan smallholdings, said after they shot dead her husband, the murderers locked her in a closet before setting the homestead alight. Her daughter Mrs Ilse Theologo told Beeld that her mother told the murderers of her husband that she ‘wanted to go to heaven’. Mrs van den Berg managed to break her bonds and broke out of the closet, rushing with their bakkie to Theo van Rensburg’s smallholding. Neighbours helped carry their furniture from the burning cottage. Her soot-covered son-in-law Claude Stander told the newspaper, standing in front of the smouldering cottage: “Why? One can’t help but ask, why did they torch the house after they had shot him dead and took everything they wanted. It’s so senseless.’ Mr van den Berg ran a small workshop on their meagre smallholding, and was attacked there at around 11am, with three black men demanding ‘the keys to the gun-safe’. It’s not known how these men knew that the couple had a registered gun-safe since police have not arrested anyone for the crime. Mrs van den Berg suffers from hip-problems, so when they forced her at knife-point to lie down on her stomarch on the bed while demanding the keys, the old lady was unable to comply because of the pain. They then cut one of her wrists while Mr van den Berg walked down the hall to get the keys. One of the attackers then shot him without any warnings in his back, with the gunman telling Mrs van den Berg: “The old man didn’t cooperate’. The terrified woman then was forced at knifepoint to step across her husband’s bleeding body to fetch the keys to the safe. Stolen were their cellphones, legally registered firearms (what good is a firearm when it has to be locked in a safe?) and some money. Then they tied her up, locked the woman up in a closet and set her house alight. She managed to get out however, saving herself from a fiery death. Said her neighbour van Rensburg: “She ran into our house in a state of hysteria. She screamed ‘help, they shot Piet and the house is burning down’ “. He drove her back to the burning homestead with Madeleine immediately trying to get inside to get her husband out. She passed out from the smoke and Van Rensburg had to drag her out while one of his workers, who used to work for the fire department, dragged Piet van den Berg’s body from the house, reaching him through the crawling space beneath the floor. Neighbours all rushed in to drag the furniture outside, said daughter Ilse Theologo. “My mother is badly traumatised,’ she said, ‘my dad was the very best of dads’. Police spokesman Johannes Jaftha said the murderers have not been captured. He expressed gratitude to the community members and the Cullinan diamond mine’s fire department members who arrived quickly to help out. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2538185,00.html

July 13 2009 – A rifleshot which farm-wife Elsabe Boshoff, 57, fired off as a ‘shock-response’ has probably saved her life. Her husband Louis, 65, however is fighting for his life in critical condition at the Kroon Hospital’s trauma unit, writes Beeld newspaper’s Johan Brits from the Free State. He’s lost half his pancreas and hooked up to a breathing machine, said Mrs Elsabé Boshoff. The couple were attacked on their farm Viljoenslaagte near Kroonstad. She said her husband runs a weather-station and was taking the early-morning reading when he was attacked. She heard him screaming and ran down the hall, and right into a black man who threatened to rape her, and then shoot her dead, if she didn’t give him money. “I kept calling the Lord’s name, and I think it made this attacker somewhat uncomfortable,’ she said. He dragged her outside where another man was with her husband. But she managed to shake herself loose, ran back into the homestead, fetched a hunting rifle. When she heard two gunshots outside, she got such a fright that she accidentially let off a shot with her rifle, she said. “After this the men then ran away but I found my husband outside, injured. He’d been shot in the back at point-blank range,’ she said. Police Supt. Ismael Nqai said three suspects have been arrested Sunday-afternoon. Nothing was looted. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2538155,00.html

June 19 2009 HOWICK, KZN. Beeld newspaper journalist Dries Liebenberg reports that a 23-year-old gardener has been arrested in connection with the gruesome murders of Alan O’Neale, 57, and his wife of two months Hannetjie Blom, 40, who was employed at a Howick biltong shop. Police said the motive for the double-murder probably was probably revenge although stolen items were found when the man was arrested. The couple’s torched bodies were found still smouldering in a bluegum-plantation at the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands’ self-catering Beverley guest farm in the Dargle Valley, Howick, about half-an-hour from Pietermaritzburg. Police senior superintendent Henry Budhram said forensic examiners established that the couple was garrotted before their bodies were set alight in the bluegum-plantation. The unnamed gardener ‘s case serves in Howick Magistrate’s Court. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2531333,00.html http://www.stayinsa.co.za/4408.htm

If any more proof were needed that these murders against Afrikaners are racist hate-crimes targetting this small very visible minority; Bloemfontein police reports that hate-slogans against Afrikaners were painted on the walls of a homestead – the murderers used the blood of Alice Lotter, 77 and daughter Helen, 57, after they were tortured to death:

The cruel torture murder of Alice Lotter, 77, and her daughter Helen, 57, caused a wave of abhorrance amongst the white community because of its incredible cruelty. The women, both frail, were tortured to death at their farm in Allenridge near Welkom in the Free State on April 1 2009. According to forensic evidence, the Lotter mother and daughter had died excruciatingly painful deaths: first tortured by being stabbed with broken glass bottles into their vaginas. One of the women also had her breasts cut off while she was still alive – and both women’s blood, police forensic experts found, had then been used to paint anti-Afrikaner hate slogans on the walls of their homestead. They were then allegedly killed by strangulation: i.e. they were hanged. In response, Odendaalsrust farmers held a demonstration outside the law courts where the accused murderers were appearing with a reenactment of the way these women had died. The demonstration drew condemnation from the Afrikaans news media ‘for its gruesome nature’. However this reenactment, pictured, wasn’t nearly as gruesome and horrid as the torture these women had to endure. Afrikaner police officers who investigated this horrific slaughter and had to gather forensic evidence, were also severely traumatised and required trauma counselling. And, despite the fact that the Lotter homestead was only one block away from the police station, no-one inside responded to the screams from these women while they were being slowly tortured to death. Click here for report of Odendaalsrust law court demonstrations. To her eternal disgrace, the local ANC-mayor had organised a counter-demonstration against a local white farmer who was appearing in court at the same time – while totally ignoring the horror these two white women had had to endure. Cruel torture-murders of two Afrikaans women was muti-harvesting: Read the original story in Afrikaans

20090401 Jan van Wyk, 82, and Basie Venter, 65, penises mutilated, then killed on Viljoenskroon farms for ‘traditional medicine’. A self-confessed sangoma from Lesotho has been arrested for this muti-murder. The penises were found buried in a ‘ritual ceremony’ on one of the farms. The sangoma’s trial is pending. It’s not certain whether he’ll be granted bail as yet. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,9909,2-7-1442_2495253,00.html

July 7 2009 – BOKSBURG. This picture of Afrikaner realtor Chris Lubbe, 46, of Boksburg, right, was taken only a day before he was shot in the back by a gang of armed robbers which has been terrorising white families at several Hartbeespoort campsites. Lubbe was gunned down while he and his life-partner Frikkie Cloete were camped out at the smallholding located in wooded areas along the Silkaatsneck-road. A doctor friend tried tried to save his life but Mr Lubbe bled to death within four minutes, reports Beeld. The men were camped out in a caravan at the dam ‘s campsite when a gang of black men started hammering on the door and breaking the windows. Du Preez said when Lubbe went out the door to find out what was going on, he saw this ‘bright light’, heard a shot and saw his life-partner of 22 years shot down in front of his eyes. “Chris was lying halfway across the entrance of the camper and probably tried to run back inside when he realised the men were armed, and then was shot in the back,’ said Cloete. The men were armed with knives and a hunting rifle, he said. Earlier another family, camped out at the smallholding, were also attacked and robbed at gunpoint, and a young man was shot at with a hunting rifle by a gang in the same week, said inspector Sam Tselanyane, North West police spokesman. He believes it’s the same gang which also attacked other vacationers nearby. The owners of the smallholdings in the region held a meeting with the police over the poor security measures yesterday, said Carel Fourie, manager of the Hartbeespoort site where the families were camped out. “We are located at the foot of a heavily-wooded mountain, and we have security guards and watch dogs. We’d need a hundred security guards to guard all the possible entry points to the site,’ he said. The murdered property agent was an active member of the Reformed Church in Johannesburg, where he was treasurer of the church council. Cloete, a sheriff in Boksburg, said he went to their church to pray on the same night Lubbe was murdered “because Chris would have wanted it this way’. Lubbe was one of the top property agents at Achiever Properties in Boksburg and loved nature, especially camping and fishing. A memorial service will be held for Lubbe on Thursday at 2 pm at the Sunward Park Dutch Reformed Church in Boksburg. A man has since been arrested. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2536388,00.html

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NAMES/DATES/PLACES KNOWN MURDERS OF RURAL DWELLERS:

please email a.j.stuijt@knid.nl at once for any updates and corrections. I strive to keep this list as accurate as possible – but cannot do it without your help!

20090623 Donald, Yvonne Gubb, survive attack, Pemberton dairy farm, Chrissiesmeer Mpuma The SA Press Association reports on June 24 2009 that yet another couple have been attacked on a dairy farm. This follows shortly after the recent gruesome murders of several dairy farmers in the greater Pretoria area in which farmer Attie Van der Grijp, the Van Den Bosch couple of The Netherlands and several others, were murdered. In today’s attack, the elderly parents of dairy farm owner Tracy Pemberton, Donald and Yvonne Gubb, were attacked and robbed at the Pemberton dairy farm in Chrissiesmeer, The couple were reported stable at hospital http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2532443,00.html

click on the YouTube links below: Part one: the history before 1994 shows gruesome scenes of the extremely violent coercion by the ANC’s United Democratic Front, targetting its own people with incredibly cruel violence at a time when the majority of blacks in South Africa did not support ANC-structures.

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '